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TRIBUTE 



OF THE 



"CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 



OF THE 



STATE OF NEW-YORK, 



TO THE MEMORY OF 



GENERAL JOHN A. DIX, 



May 1, 1879. 



ADDRESSES 

BY 

MR. A. A. LOW, 

AND 

MR. ELLIOT C. COWDIN. 



NEW- YORK: ^^-^ 
PRESS .OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. 

1879. 

7^ 



ii 



TRIBUTE 



At the Annual Meeting of the Charab.n- of Commerce of 
the State of New- York, held May 1, 1879, Mr. Samuel D. 
Babcock, President, in the Chair, the order of business 
having been suspended, Mr. A. A. Low addressed the 
Chamber as follows : 

ADDRESS OF MR. A. A. LOW. 

Mr. President : As we meet here to-day, we are called 
to lament the loss by death of one of the noblest and best 
of our fellow citizens, whose long and useful life was de- 
voted to the service of his city, his State and his country ; 
to the welfare of man, and to the praise of God. 

John Adams Dix, (more familiarly known as John A. 
Dix,) who died on Monday, the 21st ultimo, was elected as 
an honorary member of this body on the 19th of April, 
1861— a memorable day in our own history and that of our 
country. It was then that the Chamber of Commerce of 
the State of New- York, setting aside all distinctions of party, 
pledged itself to the support of the Government of the 
United States, and appointed a Committee to raise funds to 
carry on the war that had become imminent, in view of the 
crisis which events in the South had precipitated on the 
country. All who are familiar with the proceedings which 
followed the proclamation of the President of the United 
States, on the 15th of April, and the appointment of the 
Committee above referred to, will recollect that it was 
almost immediately merged in another, appointed by the 
citizens of New-York, and that the two, forming one organi- 



zation, became known as the '"'■Jlnion Defence Comoniiiee.^'' 
Gen. Dix was elected President of the Association, and 
continued to act in that capacity till called to other duties. 
On retiring, his services were acknowledged in a series of 
appropriate resolutions. Thus, the name of the departed 
patriot and statesman will ever be associated with a period 
of peculiar interest in the history of this Chamber ; and it 
is but natural that w^e should wnsh to place on our records 
some memorial of the man who filled so many distinguished 
offices in the service of his State and country, shedding 
lustre upon all ; and to mark by what methods and by 
what manly virtue he rose to such distinction among his 
fellow men. 

Of course this is not the time nor the place to do even 
partial justice to one who was so eminent and exemplary 
throughout his public and private career ; but the impress 
of such a life upon the age in which he lived is precious, 
and we may not permit the event which brings it to a close 
to pass by unheeded. It should rather be our aim to hold 
up for imitation a type of manhood so conspicuous in him, 
which is as rare as it is noble. 

I have, therefore, prepared a minute very briefly reciting 
some of the more important offices filled by General Dix, 
and beg leave to ask the passage of the following resolution : 

Hesolved, That the annexed memorandum be entered at 
length on the book of records of this Chamber, as a tribute 
of respect to the memory of our late honorary member, 
John A. Dix, and that a copy thereof be transmitted to the 
family of the deceased, to testify to our admiration of his 
character, and heartfelt sympathy for the bereaved. 

IN MEMORIAM. 

Died, in this city, on Monday, the 21st day of April, 1879, 
John Adams Dix, in the 81st year of his age. Born at the 
town of Boscawen, 'N. H., on the 24th of July, 1798, he 
was "sent from there at an early age to the academy at 
Salisbury, and afterwards to that at Exeter. When thirteen 
years old he entered a college at Montreal, pursuing his 
studies diligently till the breaking out of hostilities with 
Great Britain, when he found it necessary to return home." 



After serviiif^ as an officer in the army of the United States 
for several years, and being attached to the staff of General 
Brown, he married, and subsequently took up his abode 
in this city. 

General Dix was endowed by nature with various 
gifts — with that taste for literature and desire for know- 
ledge which industry ripens into scholarly attainment ; 
with that ardent love of country which virtue exalts 
into lofty patriotism ; with high and heroic aspirations for 
the honor to be gained in public life, which, guided by 
principle, lead up above the shifts and trammels of party 
to the dignity of an enlightened statesmanship. 

The talents so generously bestowed were wisely im- 
proved, and his mind, bent on acquisition, was early en- 
riched with the knowledge of other languages than his own, 
and, thioughout life, the study of the classics was to him a 
source of pleasant recreation. 

His fellow citizens were quick to discern, and to profit 
by, his culture, his loyalty and his known devotion to duty ; 
and, as a consequence of his various qualifications, he was 
often called to the discharge of important public trusts ; 
while, in times of peril, tlie people turned to him as an 
able leader — whether in the councils of the nation or in the 
army of the Union. 

Some forty years of his life were employed in tlie service 
of the State and of the nation, and no higher tribute can be 
paid to his worth than to name the various offices which he 
lilled and adorned : 

In 1830 — He was appointed Adjutant-General by Gov. 
Throop. 

In 1833— He was chosen Secretary of State of the State of 
New-York, and, by virtue of this office, was 
Superintendent of the Common Schools, a 
Member of the Canal Board, and one of the 
Commissioners of the Canal Fund. 

In 1841— He was elected Member of the State Assembly. 

In 1845— He was appointed to till the vacancy in the United 
States Senate caused by the election of Silas 
Wright as Governor. 

In 1853 — He was made Assistant Treasurer of the United 
States at New- York. 



In 1860 — He was appointed as Postmaster at the City of 
New- York. 

In 1861 — During tlie crisis wliich preceded the outbreak of 
tile rebellion, he was called to Washington, 
by President Buchanan, to take a place in 
his Cabinet as Secretary oi: the Treasury ; from 
which office he retired, with the inauguration 
of Mr. Lincoln as President, the following 
March. 

Returning to New- York, he was elected as Chaii- 
man of the Union Defence Committee : thi* 
office, as we have seen, he resigned to accept 
an appointment as Major-General of Volun- 
teers ; President Lincoln, in the June follow- 
ing, giving him the same rank in the regular 
army. 

He was then ordered to the command of the army 
of Maryland. 

In 1862 — He was tiansferred to East Virginia, North Caro- 
lina being afterwards added to the Department. 
His headquarters were subsequently removed 
to New York, where he remained until 1866, 
when he resigned. 

In 1866 — He was nominated as Naval Officer at New- York, 
and, soon afterwards, as Minister to France. 

At the organization of the Union Pacitic Rail- 
Road Company he was elected President, and 
afterwards, in 1872, he was made provisional 
President of the Erie Railway, 

In 1872 — He was elected Governor of the State of New- 
York, and served the legular term of two 
years. 

In other lands, under other institutions, long and faithful 
service to the State is honored with rank and title and costly 
decorations ; but, in ours, Republican simplicity bears away 
the glory of personal achievement to swell the volume of 
National renown. 

Let it be our privilege to cherish the name and the mem- 
ory of the patriot and statesman who has so recently left 



"US, for what he did to exalt tlie character of the nation — in 
whose work, and for wliose fame, he wrought so well. And 
may the Church with which he was closely connected, 
and society which he adorned with his presence, gratefully 
preserve the recollections of a lite that was full of grace and 
beauty ; and the honor which he kept so bright will con- 
tinue to reflect its lustre on those who sliall follow in his 
footsteps, for generations to come. 

ADDRESS OF MR. KLLIOT C. COWDIN. 

Mk. President : I cordially second tlie resolution that 
has just been submitted. A soldier, a statesman, a scholar, 
a patriot, a model citizen — JoHir A. Dix — long an honorary 
member of this Chamber, has passed away. 

Born and reared among the rugged hills of New- 
Hampshiie, the sprightly and ardent 3'outli, at the out- 
break of the war with Great Britain in 1812, he having just 
reached his fourteenth year, was appointed a cadet in the 
army, and assigned to active service at Baltimore, where 
his father was in command of a regiment. He remained in 
the army till 1826, rising graduallj^ to the rank of Captain, 
and for the last seven years was Aid-de-Camp to the Com- 
mander-in-Chief. On retiring from military service he pur- 
sued the study of the law, w^as admitted to the bar in 1828, 
and settled in the beautiful village of Cooperstown. 

He now entered upon a public career thatfilled half a cen- 
tury wath valuable services, and won for him honorable 
fame. Holding during this long period a large number of 
important offices, he always rose to the leve-l of the emer- 
gency while discharging tlie onerous, and often delicate, 
duties devolved upon him. 

For the two years he was Adjutant-General of the State 
of New- York, he took pride in peifecting the discipline of 
our militia. 

In 183B he was elected Secretary of State, holding that 
responsible position for six years. He was ex- officio a 
member of theCanalBoard, and Superintendent of Common 
Schools. The former brought him into close relations with 



8 

Wm. L. Marcy, Silas Wkight, William C. Bouck and 
AzARiAii C. Flagg, just as the State was embarking on the 
munificent enterprise of enlarging the Erie Canal. His dis- 
tinguished associates in the Board regarded him as wise in 
council and vigorous in execution. But his noblest work 
was in behalf of public instruction. Of the many devoted 
and sagacious friends of popular education who have held 
the office of Superintendent, General Dix was certainly one 
of the most efficient and judicious. For his labors in that 
department, the children of the State who resort to these 
nurseries of education owe him a debt of gratitude. By 
virtue of his office, he was a Regent of the University, and 
took pleasure in promoting the interests of our higher seats 
of learning, the academies and colleges of the State. 

His valuable geological report to the Legislature while 
Secretary of State, prepared the way for the elaborate treatise 
on the Natural History of New- York. 

General Dix was soon to test his powers in another field. 
He was a member of the Assembly of 1842. That session 
was remarkable in the annals of the State, not only for the 
importance of the questions agitated in the Legislature, but 
for the number of able men that appeared in the lower House. 
By his statesmanlike bearing in the Assembly, he achieved a 
reputation that prepared the way for his election to the Senate 
of the United States. He took his seat in January, 1845, and 
remained in the Senate until March, 1849. During these four 
years the Senate Chamber shone with resplendent talents, 
while Congress and the country were shaken with contro- 
versies concerning the annexation of Texas, the joint occu- 
pation of Oregon, the war with Mexico, and the prohibition 
of slavery in the vast territories acquired by the peace. 
Webster, CALHOuisr, Benton", Crittenden, Cass, Cor- 
wiN, Douglass, Jefferson Davis, and other eminent de- 
baters, took the lead in the stormy discussions on these 
questions. Such forensic displays would have awed to 
silence a young Senator less firm and faithful than General 
Dix. But he delivered able speeches on all the pending 
issues, while in respect to the one absorbing topic of that 
memorable era, he advocated with rare courao:e and 



9 

eloquence the constitutional power of Congress to prohibit 
slavery in the territories of the Union. 

Faithful to this, he was not unmindful of other important 
interests. He was warmly devoted to the promotion of the 
commerce of the countr}'-, and the improvement of its 
revenue laws. As Chairman of the Committee on Com- 
merce, he carried through Congress the Warehouse System, 
which thenceforward became a permanent element in our 
customs policy. He exhibited marked courtesy toward the 
merchants and business men generally, and was always 
ready at their call to step aside from the most exciting de- 
bates in the Chamber, to receive information from them, or 
serve them in any proper way. 

On his retirement from the Senate, he turned with alacrity 
once more to the study of the law and the cultivation of 
literature, always congenial occupations to him. 

Having taken an active share in the Presidential campaign 
of 1852, General Pierce, President-elect, offered him 
the Premiership in his Cabinet, which he was disposed to 
accept, but ultra Southern politicians protested so vehe- 
mently, that the offer was withdrawn. 

The elements of integrity, fidelity and suavity, mingled 
with a rare kind of diplomatic skill, were so prominent in 
the character of General Dix, that he was often summoned 
as a councillor and coadjutor in sudden exigencies. One of 
our venerable and opulent ecclesiastical establishments, two 
■of our largest railway corporations, and even the Federal 
Government itself, have invoked his aid in such crises. 
Striking examples of this occurred when President Bu- 
chanan", in a critical emergency, appointed him Post- 
master of this city, and again. Just at the close of his ad- 
ministration, sought his support in an hour of extreme peril. 
We stood at the very gates of the rebellion. States 
were seceding from the Union. The Cabinet was breaking 
up. The President saw that he was betrayed. His legal 
advisers lost heart. The conspirators among them were in 
league with the rebels. Hov^ell Cobb, the Secretary of the 
Treasury, had joined the insurgents. Mr. Buchanan sum- 
moned General Dix to Washington to take up the seals 
which the traitor had thrown down. He instantly obeyed 



10 

the call. It was daring his brief term as Secretary of the 
Treasury that he issued, to an agent of the Department at 
New-Orleans, that famous order which will ever remain a 
part of the patriotic literature of the country : " If any man 
attempts to haul down the American Flag, shoot him on the 
spot." 

On the inauguration of President Lincoln, in 1861, Gen- 
eral Dix again returned to private life, but only for a brief 
period. The guns of Sumter were echoing throughout the 
land and the whole people were aroused. "Shall the Union 
be preserved, one and indivisible'^" Or, "shall the erring 
sisters be permitted to depart in peace '<" were questions 
uppermost in every mind. 

In that hour of national peril, General Dix occupied no 
equivocal position. He was for his country — the whole 
country. Shortly after the new administration came into 
power, when the patriotic masses of this city poured their 
tens of thousands into Union Square, to devise measures for 
the preservation of the Republic, General Dix was called to 
preside, and there gave the key note to the loyal voice of 
the nation, irrespective of party, in these thrilling words : 

"I am for supporting the Government. I do not ask 
who administers it. It is the Government of my country, 
and as such I shall give it in this extremity all the support 
in my power. * * * Let ns remember that nothing 
could be so disastrous, so humiliating and so disreputable 
to us all as to see our common Government overthrown or 
its legitimate authority successfully resisted. Let us, then, 
rally, with one heart, to its support." * * * 

Turning toward the statue of Washington, he ex- 
claimed : 

"If the inanimate being in which the sculptor has shaped 
his image could be changed to the living form which led 
the armies of the Revolution to victory, he would command 
us, in the name of the hosts of patriots and political 
martyrs who have gone before, to stand for the defence of 
the Union and the Constitution." 

The military services of General Dix in the civil war are 
gratefully remembered, especially in this city, where for a 
considerable time he was in command. In the alarming 



11 

crisis wlien the turbulent classes rose to resist the draft, 
and carried dismay into all our habitations, his courageous 
counsels largely aided in suppressing the revolt. 

I nia}'^ be pardoned for referring, in this connection, to an 
incident which illustrates his devotion to duty amid 
surrounding dangers. Happening to be a member of the 
Republican State Convention for nominating a candidate 
for Governor in 1864, I presented the name of General Dix 
lor that office. The Convention received it with enthusi- 
astic applause. It will be remembered that he was then in 
command of the Military Department of the East, with 
head-quarters in this city. I joined in a telegram from 
Syracuse, where the Convention was in session, asking him 
if he would accept the nomination for Governor. The re- 
sponse was prompt and decisive: "I cannot, under any 
circumstances." 

On the resignation of Mr. Bigelow, as Minister to France, 
General Dix was appointed to that important mission, and 
held it during the Paris Exposition of 1867, and until suc- 
ceeded by Mr. Washburne, in May, 1869. Being muck 
in Paris, I can testify that he was an able and highly popu- 
lar representative. His elevated character, his tranquil 
dignity, his generous hospitality, and his uniform courtesy 
and kindness, won all hearts, and are remembered with affec- 
tion and gratitude. 

A little circumstance will show how tenacious was his 
i-ecoUection in regard to the famous telegram already men- 
tioned : As General Dix was about to leave France, on 
the termination of his mission, the American residents 
in Paris gave him a public banquet, at which more than 
three hundred and fifty ladies and gentlemen sat down. 
There were present his successor, Mr. Washbuune, Mr. 
BuRLiNGAME, then Ambassador from China, Governor 
Bullock, of Massachusetts, and other distinguished per- 
sons. Having been chosen to preside on that occasion, it 
devolved upon me to deliver the opening address. Of 
course I did not omit the historic telegram, but quoting 
from memor3% I used the words, ''W/ioevei' attempts to 
haul down the American flag," &c. Promptly General 



12 

Dix, in a modest note, informed me that the precise language 
of his order was, '■'' If any man attempts to liaul down the 
American flag," &c. This correction, trifling as it may 
seem, not only illustrates his exactness in small particu- 
lars, but it shows with what tenacity the memory of the 
veteran soldier and statesman clung to this patriotic pas- 
sage of his life. 

The crowning event of his public career was his guberna- 
torial administration. The manner in which he fulfilled the 
duties of that exalted station compares favorably with that 
of our most illustrious chief magistrate — with tliatof Tomp- 
kins and Clinton, Makcy and Seward. When he retired 
from the Capitol, in his seventy-seventh year, it could be 
truly said of him, that — 

" Age sat with comely grace upon his visage, 
And worthily became his silver locks ; 
He wore the marks of many years well spent, 
Of virtue, truth well-tried, and wise experience." 

The life we have contemplated carries us back to the 
days of Washington, and awakens echoes of the struggle 
of the Colonies to break away from their allegiance to the 
British Crown. It brings us down to the grand epoch 
when, at the close of a severer conflict, the Republic threw 
off the yoke of sectional domination. Ever the ardent 
friend of free institutions, and of the Federal Constitution, 
as their best embodiment, our model citizen drew his sword 
in early 3'outh in defence of his country, and in old age 
wielded it for the preservation of the Union. 

Though General Dix held more civil trusts than any of 
his contemporaries, he never demeaned himself to obtain 
rank and station. Office sought him, as it ever should seek 
men of real merit ; and in the discharge of his duties, even 
his bitterest opponents never questioned the stainless purity 
of his record. 

The great variety of the posts he was called to fill was 
largely due to his elasticity of mind and wonderful capac- 
ity for tracing the outlines and mastering the details of any 
new question. In the diversity of his civil services, perhaps 



13 

the only parallel in American history is found in the career 
of John Quincy Adams, one of those rare characters which 
in youth exhibits the wisdom of age, and in age displays 
the vigor of youth. 

Among the recent European statesmen to whom he may 
not inaptly be compared, the most striking figures are 
Palmerston and Thiers. The octogenarian Premier gal- 
lantly leading the attack, night after night, upon the foes 
of his Ministry in the House of Commons ; the octogenarian 
President, with the vivacity of middle life, maintaining his 
policj'-, day by da}'-, against powerful assailants in the 
Chamber of Deputies, bore close analogy to the ability and 
eloquence wherewith the venerable Governor of New- York 
defended his administration in the autumn of 1874, on 
many platforms, in the presence of thousands of his fellow 
citizens. 

His education was as versatile as his employments were 
varied. Though carefully taught in early youth, his studies 
were interrupted at the age of fourteen by military duties. 
Thenceforward he was mainly self-taught, which made him 
through life self-reliant. His knowledge covered a wide field, 
and on important subjects it was as profound as it was exact. 
Called to deal with a great variety of topics, he illumined 
and adorned every question he touched. He was master 
of the law of nations, and of the peculiar policy of Eccle- 
siastical tribunals. He could emerge from the turmoil of 
politics, and delight an audience of scholars by an address 
on the study of the classics. He even wooed the muses 
with success in his few leisure hours. His delight in the 
avocations of horticulture and agriculture was shown in an 
address on "Rural Life and Embellishment," delivered 
before his Long Island friends, at Jamaica, in 1851, and 
by an address on "The Agriculture of New- York," at the 
State Fair at Albany, in 1859 ; while the pride he felt in 
our great metropolis was evinced in his most instructive 
lecture, entitled "The City of New-York; its Growth, 
Destiny and Duties," given before the Historical Society, 
in 1853. 

Such is a mere outline of an historic character, a noble 
type of American manhood in one of its grandest develop- 



14 

ments. The life of him whose loss we deplore will ever 
remain an instructive chapter in the history of the nation. 
Its lessons will ; stimulate youth to patriotic endeavors to 
be useful to their country, and encourage age to consecrate 
their declining years to the promotion of its unity, pros- 
perity and glory. 

The resolution was unanimously adopted, and the ad- 
dresses of Messrs. Low and Cowdin, were ordered to be 
entered at length on the minutes of the Chamber, and be 
printed, and a copy sent to the family of General Dix. 



